Dartford council has bucked the county trend by maintaining a freeze on its council tax – for the seventh year in a row.

Councillors voted not to increase their share of taxpayer’s bills, keeping the Band D tax for Dartford at £162.90.

Council leader Jeremy Kite (Con) said the decision was ‘right’ for residents, and that the council would continue to offer ‘quality services and facilities’ throughout the coming financial year.

“For more than a decade now we have established a reputation for prudent budgeting and delivering what we promise,” he said.

“With so many councils putting up their taxes, it would have been easy for us to go under the radar to put ours up at the same time but it would not have been right.

“We invest in quality services, quality facilities and we celebrate our town with popular events to bring our community together.”

Cllr Kite highlighted the Dartford Festival, The Orchard Theatre and Fairfield Pool as examples of how the council was delivering, and promised that more was on the way.

“We have ended up with a very stable and constant flow of new ideas and new innovations, new facilities and new spending opportunities,” he said.

“One of the challenges for us now is to make sure that they are not just Dartford town-centric and that we take them out into the community and around the borough.

“One of the challenges for us now is to make sure that they are not just Dartford town-centric and that we take them out into the community and around the borough." - Cllr Jeremy Kite.

“You will see a theme develop now where you see new facilities where they are perhaps least expected.”

The freeze on council tax and Cllr Kite’s promise of continued investment comes despite a huge drop in government funding, with the borough set to lose 35% of its Revenue Support Grants this year – equating to almost £700,000.

Dartford council will receive just £1.3m in Revenue Support Grants this year and by 2019 will no longer receive any.

The first casualty of the cuts is the Grab-a-Cab scheme, although Cllr Kite insisted it was being shut on the advice of police.

The council hopes to retain up to £3.1m from business rates, though, with a further £3.6m provided by the government’s New Homes Bonus scheme, which encourages the building of new homes.

A total income of £13.8m is expected, with a further £2m drawn out of council reserves – £100,000 more than last year.

“This is a budget that doesn’t meet the aspirations of the community, doesn’t get its priorities right and above all does not deliver a credible plan for getting our finances back on track.” - Cllr Jonathan Hawkes.

Dartford Labour leader Cllr Jonathan Hawkes said the increased reliance on reserves showed the budget to be ‘short on vision’.

“The Conservatives have not made the right choices for Dartford with this budget,” he said.

“This is a budget that doesn’t meet the aspirations of the community, doesn’t get its priorities right and above all does not deliver a credible plan for getting our finances back on track.”

Cllr Kite accused the opposition of focusing on issues ‘at the periphery’ of what was important for Dartford.

He said: “Opposition is frustrating, but the way to deal with it is to win more elections. If you have good ideas, have no doubt at all, I will be the first to steal them from you!”